Hollyoaks - Will Vs Dodger Savage - Somebody PLEASE Give Danny Mac an Award for Outstanding Acting and Not Just For Being Hot as Hell!

Tanned, buff, toned, stereotypical "hunk" who always has his shirt off.  Totally not the typical kinda guy I go for but god dammit, I do love Hollyoaks Dodger Savage!!  

You'll all either be thinking one of two things - typical Jen, moaning that a guy is TOO attractive, HA!  Or, why the hell does someone with such fabulous taste watch Hollyoaks!?!  Well, to answer the second one...you can blame Jamie Lomas, aka Warren Fox!  It was him that got me first watching again, after I had stopped watching in the late 90's!!  I had went through a brief spell of watching it when I was a Uni, my flatmate and I went through about a year where we were a bit Hollyoaks/Eastenders daft.  Lol.  

It was Lomas's bad boy Warren Fox however that got me first sucked back into it  And then along came Emmett Scanlan, aka Brendan Brady...aka The Tash!!  The two of them together were just absolutely brilliant.  Add to that people such as Rachel Shenton's Mitzeee/Anne, and Claire Cooper's Jackie McQueen, and you genuinely got some bloody good storylines.  Plus, having a serial killer grandad on the loose, and at tea time no less, am I gonna complain?!!  Of course not.  ;)  

With Dodger though, at first he just made me laugh with the amount of cheesetastic times he got his shirt off every episode.  And then the whole Dodger/Texas storyline started...which then led to ERMAHGERD...his geeky brother Will is a psycho killa...Norman Bates.   Okay, not quite Norman Bates, but he did kill his mother.  

Starting out as the quiet geek with the ladies man stud of a brother, by normal Jen standards it would have been Will I was more interested in.  The fact that Will then went on to become a total killer, who was about to step into serial killer status, I should have preferred him even more.  Haha.  The way that he controlled Texas though, and basically tricked her emotionl self into sleeping with him, after telling her that Dodger was cheating on her...which he wasn't.  He then threw himself down a flight of stairs, crippling himself and guilting Texas into being with him.  That wasn't good enough for psycho boy though, and he knew that she still loved Dodger.  Texas is then going to leave him on her wedding day, and when she realises that he tricked her just to get one up on Dodger, and she calls him out for being the sicko that he is, he pushes her out of a window to her death.  Of course in true Hollyoaks fashion we don't find out it was Will that did it for bloody ages.  It's actually poor Dodger that gets arrested for her murder first.  Much to Will's delight.  It's only whatever time later, and in more like typical Saw fashion, that we discover Will is able to walk again. 

After Texas's funeral, and a confrontation with Will, Dodger leaves the village for a while.  Much to my dismay.  Thankfully though he returns.  And all this has been building up and up and up, to first the Hollyoaks blast, in which we saw some truly epic filming.  Will leaves Dodger to die, buried in a pile of rubble.  Screaming at my TV, I honestly thought it was game over for our super stud.  But like the Hulk, Dodger survives the blast, almost to then be suffocated by Will in the hospital.  Thankfully though, for his own sake at that time, Dodger has amnesia, and so Will thinks he's gotten away with shit yet again. 

Between the blast episode where he catches Will trying to kill Ash, and then his scene with Maxine in the hospital when he finds out she's had an abortion after their one night stand, we yet again get some power acting from le Mac'ster!  As pictured in an emotional scene with Maxine...who I TOTALLY want to get together with Dodger and ditch his controlling abusive dad.  

Anyhoo, all of that brings us to Wednesday nights episode on E4...the final confrontation between Will and Dodger.  All this week Danny has been outstanding, but the moment that he truly owned it was after Will dragging him over a rooftop with him, falling to the ground...before struggling and being helped up.  

He then just collapses in tears, tears over knowing that his brother killed the woman he loved, just to take her away from him...before killing his mum, as she knew the truth.  This scene was absolutely stunning, and had me in tears.  

Danny Mac is an actor who has proven time and time again, that whilst he is great at playing the cheeky ladies man, he is even better at displaying a real sense of vulnerability, and fear.  From full on going ballistic, to being able to convey so much through simple facial expressions.  He has this amazing, almost, little boy lost look that completely draws you in.  Many actors when asked to play the part of someone who is deeply hurt, or upset, half the time they end up just looking ridiculous.  Danny has such a naturalness to him, and he's been given some amazing opportunities with Dodger to get into some real nitty gritty storylines.  I think perhaps the wee dear could do with something a little lighter just to perk himself up now though.

So high fucking five you toned, tanned stud muffin.  People, stand up and give the dude a standing ovation. He has proved time and time again that he is more than just a hot bod and a pretty face...he is a bloody good actor to boot!  Danny Mac, I salute you!  

Oh yeah, and I'm now Team Dodger/Maxine.  Hear that 'oaks writers!  Again with Maxine, she's not my typical kind of gal, but Nikki Sanderson has been an absolute star, and dealing with some really hard hitting storylines too, ones that if played right, could make such a difference to individuals out there watching, and in a similar situation.  However, please let her, and Dodger have a happy ending.  ;)

Special kudos goes as well to James Atherton, whom once finally flipped and went full on crazy, was fucking brilliant as crazy eyes Will Savage.  

Hollyoaks Hitting the Nail on the Head with their Rape Storyline - Every Woman is Vulnerable, Even the Jackie McQueen's of the World!

I know that I usually cover horror and what not, and I guess in a way this truly is horror...even if it is on Hollyoaks.  Rape is a touchy subject no matter where it is covered and it is with that in mind that I have to applaud the Hollyoaks writers and the way that they have dealt with the Jackie/Gilly rape storyline.  Having spent a day in a secondary school with first years discussing mental health, I am perfectly aware of the fact that many youngsters in the UK today learn a lot of what they know from Hollyoaks.  Some may deem this tacky, and others might berate the soap, but when it comes to raising awareness around difficult topics, a number of them have been done particularly well.  The rape storyline in particular really got to me.

Jackie is a character that I never really had any time for until now, she wears the most hideous clothes (even Claire Cooper who plays Jackie has laughed saying that no normal person would dress the way she does!), is a total chav and on occasion has been more than just a little bit annoying.  She is a strong character, one who never let anyone get to her, she always bounced back from everything that was thrown at her, and she does have a reputation for sleeping around a bit! It is these characteristics though that made her such a great character for a rape storyline.  I mean let's face it, how many people do you know who would turn around and say "she deserved to get raped" and words to that effect?!!  It is a sick world that we live in and more often than not these are the sorts of words you will hear on a daily basis.  However, at the end of the day, NOBODY deserves to get raped.  No matter how horrid they might have been to others in the past!  When Hollyoaks had a week of the show dedicated to "the trial" between Jackie and Gilly, both characters gave their statements.  Others were character witnesses.  On the whole the majority of other characters thought that she made it up, that she had slept with her boyfriend's best friend and that because it took her a couple of days to report it to the police, it was her way making an excuse for what she had done.

First of all, just because someone doesn't report a rape to the police as soon as it happens, doesn't mean that they're making it up!  That is the most absurd statement I've ever heard.  A person in this situation is going to be vulnerable, they will feel dirty and that it is all their fault.  This is exactly how Jackie is portrayed afterwards.  That just because she is who she is, that she somehow brought it on herself.  The final decision was made up by fans of the show and they deemed Gilly, not guilty!

After the trial both characters went away for a bit, with Jackie coming back and eventually getting married to her boyfriend at the time, Rhys...Gilly's best friend.  The storyline with Jackie has continued though, with her afraid to have sex with Rhys, now her husband.  Her behaviour is becoming more and more erratic, Claire Cooper has done an amazing job with portraying her declining mental state.  When Nancy, another of the characters, one who didn't believe she had been raped in the first place but who had started to notice that she truly wasn't well, when she gave Rhys rape crisis leaflets to give to Jackie thinking it might help, Jackie went mental, screaming she didn't need help, when she clearly did!  It all came to a heads up this past week with her truly having a nervous breakdown and disappearing for a couple of days.  With a serial killer (a Granddad serial killer as well, another storyline that has been quite shocking - that's to do with internet safety and that do we truly know who we are talking to online) on the loose and a piece of her lovely hideous dress found in the woods where two bodies have been dumped, everyone feared the worse.  Eventually, Rhys clicked where she might be...out in the middle of nowhere he found her.  She was truly broken and in desperate need of help.  For a show such as this to have such a strong character so broken is a testament to good writing.  Say what you want about Hollyoaks but sometimes they do just get it right.  Just because a woman has been promiscuous in the past, does not mean that she will say yes to every man...it does not give a man the right to have sex with her.  No means no and a vulnerable woman is a vulnerable woman, end of!  

So yes, mock me all you want for my love of Hollyoaks but I truly think that they have hit the nail on the head with this storyline.  Even the strongest of women, the most promiscuous, and even those who can be a downright pain in the ass sometimes...everyone is vulnerable to rape and it is a serious subject that should not be mocked.  No woman deserves this, it is every woman's right to say no.  Even the Jackie McQueen's of the world.  So yes, kudos to Claire Cooper for truly putting in an amazing performance....you have indeed gained a fan in me and I commend you for your wonderful performance.  And just an extra note, in real life without all the hideous Jackie make-up, Claire is actually a very pretty girl! :)